Nick

November 1998

Hello everyone! I'm starting this article off with a nice, jolly
mood, because the rest of it is a furious rage I'm about to go into
against a current issue so many of us are familiar with. But I'll
spare you a few moments..

...that's enough. Now, I'm sure all of you have heard about the
NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) funding an off-Broadway play
that depicted Jesus Christ as a homosexual who had homosexual
relations with his disciples. Just as any new and different idea
would be treated, this one has gotten full rioting and outrage from
so many Christians that I would like to scream at each and every one
of them to get an open mind.

Why can't some people just accept the fact that not everybody is a
straight, white, happily married Christian male who has found Jesus,
and that the people who aren't are not "freaks?" If you aren't open
to new ideas, then how on earth is anyone going to learn anything?
How are we going to improve ourselves? How are we going to learn from
past mistakes and make new ones?

Every time someone or something does anything that doesn't go
strictly with what the Bibles says, a bunch of people become furious.
Jesus may or may not have been a homosexual -- I have no idea, I
wasn't around to see him when he was here. Jesus is within all of us,
all of us -- no matter what are "choices" (which homosexuality, as I
believe, is a born-with thing) are. I personally don't believe in
hell either.

But before I get into a lovely argument with several Baptists
about religion and offend the Pope in some way or another, I'd just
like to stop myself and say that the United States of America is a
country for all religions. I got a chain letter from my friends who
asked me to sign my name in support of outrage against the NEA, which
they were planning on sending them, and I send them a furious letter
in outrage (risking my illusion of heterosexuality, of course) in
response that contained much of what I wrote above here. I also
mentioned that the NEA is a government organization, not a Christian
organization, and that they can provide funding for any form of play
that has to do with any form of religion.

If you have a problem with that, call up your senator and ask him
to rewrite the Constitution for you and take away those horrible
things called "freedom of religion" and "freedom of speech" and
"equal rights." Maybe that'll solve the countries problems... and if
you haven't noticed yet, my tongue is planted in my cheek so hard
it's starting to hurt.

it's alright

it's alright forty days of rain
my skin stretched out from the growing pain
it'd be nice to have an explanation
but it's alright

and it's alright if you hate that way
hate me cause i'm different
you hate me cause i'm gay
truth of the matter come around one day
it's alright

i look at this lifeline stretched way all across my hand
i look at the burned out empty like a plague across the land
and for everything i learn there are two i don't understand
that's while i'm still on a search
through the weather strewn church
i'm doing the best that i can
and it's alright

and it's alright though we worry and fuss
(alright)
we can't get over the hump or get over us
(we can't get over us)
it seems easier to push than to let go and trust
(alright)
but it's alright

when we get a little distant some things get clearer
yeah give em the space some hearts grow nearer
i ran as hard as i could i still ended up here
and it's alright

as i look at this lifeline stretched way all across my hand
(lifeline all across my hand)
i look at the fires of hatred
(fire)
burning up the bounty of this beautiful land
(burning up the land)
i know that i'm small in a way but i know i'm strong
and it's my thirst that brought me to the water
well i give it all up then she carries me on
it's alright

yeah

and it's alright if i feel afraid
my plans in pieces
my plans mislaid
it's the will of the way
(the will of the way)
the will of the way
(it's the will of the way)
the will of the only way that could have brought me here today
and it's alright
and it's alright